Page 76 of Single-Minded
“Agree.”
“Hey, pretty girls.” Ty, who I’d danced with at the wedding reception, slid into the booth next to me.
“Hello, Ty,” Maeve said, her tone of voice sounding like an eye roll.
“Hi, Ty,” I said.
“To what do we owe the privilege of your presence tonight?” he asked.
“Girls’ night out,” Maeve said. “We’re celebrating Presley’s birthday.” As soon as she said it, she cringed and mouthed the word sorry to me.
I laughed it off, unbothered. Then Ty leaned closer.
“Can I buy you a birthday drink?” he asked.
“I’m good right now, but thanks,” I said, lifting my full wineglass.
“We should go out sometime,” he said, directing it to me. “Belated birthday celebration?”
I glanced at Maeve, who didn’t look surprised in the least. Was he actually asking me out? With an audience? Blazes of hell, this just got awkward.
“I’m…focused on opening my coffee shop right now. I don’t really have time for much social life. Tonight’s a fluke,” I told him. “But thank you.”
“Ahh, you’re breaking my heart, new girl,” he said. “I’ll check in with you once your shop is open. You have a happy birthday.”
He stood and went on his way as quickly as he’d appeared. I stared at Maeve with my mouth open.
“What was that?” I asked.
Maeve shook her head. “Ty’s got a good heart, but if he’s breathing, he’s flirting with someone. We just shrug him off.”
Anna returned to our table and was about to sit down when someone called her name from the other direction. She hurried over to someone behind me, out of my sight.
Laughing, I said, “You weren’t kidding about butterfly.”
“This is how it is,” Maeve said simply, with no hard feelings toward her friend. “Everyone loves Anna. Anna loves everyone.”
“The opposite of Magnolia, it seems,” I said carefully.
“Magnolia… She’s got a long, sordid history in this town.”
“She told me some of it. About her dad and her childhood and how money was used for control. And how he disowned her. I don’t know her well yet, but she seems…sort of humble now? Maybe even repentant?”
Maeve looked thoughtful as she sipped her seltzer. “I think she is. But it takes a long time to outgrow a bad reputation in a small town.”
“I’m beginning to understand that.”
“If Chloe can forgive her, others should be able to eventually.”
“I hope so. She seems to have changed.”
An hour later, the Fly was packed. We’d given up our table to watch Magnolia and Kemp’s pool battles. I’d met dozens of locals whose names I’d be hard-pressed to remember later, but I kept my smile pasted on and answered questions about The Bean Counter mixed in with being hit on. Maeve informed me I was “fresh meat” in a town where the dating pool was small.
“You’re getting it too though,” I said, because she—and Anna too—had plenty of male attention.
“Hope springs eternal for these clueless boys.” She laughed.
I moved in close and said quietly, “There’s no baby daddy here for you? No one you’re interested in?”
